50 Book Challenge 2016 Part Three

[southeastdweller]

Thread three of the 50 Book Challenge for this year.

The challenge is to read fifty books (or more!) in 2016, though reading fifty isn't mandatory. Any type of book can count, it's not too late to join, and please try to let us all know your thoughts on what you've read.

First thread of 2016 is here and second thread here.

How're you getting on so far?

20. The Witch with no Name by Kim Harrison

The final novel in The Hollows series basically ties up all the loose ends of what has gone before - Rachel Morgan, witch-turned-day-walking-demon, has to find a way to give the vampires their souls back without it killing them, and prevent the elves from destroying the Ever After and the demons along with it. It is a good rounding up of everything, but does feel a little flat because there's inevitably a certain predictability about how it all goes, but over all the series has been great.

23. The Life and Times of The Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson - really enjoyed Bill Bryson's account of growing up in 1950s America. It isn't all humour, some serious subjects are covered too such as racism. Do love his slightly wicked sense of humour.

Next up Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel and The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

Finally finished a couple!
Childhood's End by Arthur C Clarke - This weirdly felt a lot more old-fashioned than 2001 Space Odessy etc (possibly as this includes more female characters so it's much more noticeable - they are very much of their time.) The Overlords were an interesting idea, and I did like the way they linked in with mankind's idea of the devil. It started well, got a bit muddled in the middle and I didn't really enjoy the ending, but it had enough interesting ideas and kitsch charm to be readable.

The Humans by Matt Haig was fantastic. Loved the idea of a human-hating alien who comes to Earth to wipe out all evidence of a Mathematical formula that would revolutionise life on Earth.. Then decides that actually humans are actually a bit lovely. Weird and freakish looking, but lovely, Very enjoyable read, especially for anyone familiar with Cambridge as you'll recognise a lot of the places in the story.

Finished so far: (with favourites highlighted)

1. The City and the City - China Mieville
2. The Guest Cat - Takashi Hiraide
3. Lost in a Good Book - Jasper Fforde
4. John Dies at the End - David Wong
5. Childhood's End - Arthur C Clarke
6. The Humans - Matt Haig

17. The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

This was OK but I expected to like it a lot more than I did, tbh. It is the 194-page monologue of a Pakistani guy who starts telling an American tourist about his life - he was a star student in Princeton, then got recruited for a high-flying job in finance in New York, all went great until 9/11 happened etc.

I thought that the parts where he describes the change in his viewpoint were pretty good, especially where he sees himself as a janissary, recruited from his foreign land to finance the military machine of his adopted country which then fights his own people. The description of how it feels to be between two cultures/countries was also well done. However the format of the book (one side of a conversation, from start to finish) felt gimmicky, and of course he was never a fundamentalist, although I do like his play on words - he was a financial analyst who did fundamental analysis.

It's currently £1.99 on the Kindle, if anyone is interested.

32. The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Read for book club, which meets tomorrow and it will be interesting to see what everyone thinks! I love Sherlock Holmes. The writing is so beautifully dramatic. Mr Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound! I note that almost all women in Sherlock Holmes are dark beauties of Spanish blood, by the by. And Watson and Holmes' relationship always makes me snurk quietly, although this isn't the best story for highlighting it.

Chillie, if I like Ilona Andrews/Patricia Briggs/L J Smith's earlier stuff/PC Cast House of Night etc, will I like Kim Harrison?

11. The Burning Land, Bernard Cornwell

The fifth instalment of the Saxon Stories and not my favourite, it pains me to say. There were a few small instances of the main characters behaving completely out of character and it really narked me! Additionally, the book felt very 'bitty' with characters and settings hopping about all over the place. However, that maybe meant a reflection of the political times within the story, so I'll let that one go.

This instalment is a real turning point for many of the characters where we can see new loyalties and plot lines being set up for future books. The tension between Alfred the Great and his finest warlord Uhtred reach an all time high and the fallout creates waves throughout the kingdoms. Battles galore as well.

Although it is true to the times, all the women play very minor, fleeting roles and are treated as accessories and bargaining chips. A woman is only taken seriously if she is perceived as a sorceress or a witch, in which case she is hated and not long for the world. However, it would seem that there is one, maybe two, exception(s) and I'm looking forward to seeing what they do.

So onto the sixth in the series Death of Kings

Its funny with Middlemarch, its full of flowery Victorian language, a lot of telling rather than showing and its over 800 pages, normally all the things I dislike in a book (aside from the length) but I did really like it and all the characters which were so well drawn.

TooExtraImmatureCheddar - I have a copy of The Hound of the Baskervilles which someone got me for Christmas which I will get around to

Vanity Fair is like that too, BadSpella. I am really liking it but it takes a lot more reading than something with more showing! I love flowery Victorian language, though.

I can’t remember when I last posted but here’s my last couple

1. The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald just another classic that I’ve not read until now. I was surprised how incredibly short it was and it felt as soon I had got into it, it was finished.

1. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss Well this took forever to listen to but it was completely worth it. As with many books that are 600 pages plus, it was a bit daunting to begin with. But if I’ve learnt anything about reading, you don’t have to enjoy the topic to appreciate a really well written book with a really good plot. The book follows the youth of a man called Kvothe, as he tells his story as an adult. I can’t really sum it up so I’ve copied this “So begins the tale of Kvothe - currently known as Kote, the unassuming innkeeper - from his childhood in a troupe of travelling players, through his years spent as a near feral orphan in a crime riddled city, to his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a difficult and dangerous school of magic. In these pages you will come to know Kvothe the notorious magician, the accomplished thief, the masterful musician, the dragon-slayer, the legend hunter, the lover, the thief and the infamous assassin.”

13. The Last Kingdom - Bernard Cornwell - The first in the Saxon series, thank you Greymalkin for the recommendation - very 'blokey' book, but really enjoyed it - not my usual sort of book. For those who dont know the series - this one follows the childhood of Uhtred, and English boy born into a noble family in Northumbria, the Danes arrive, kill his father and take him prisoner/hostage. Ragnar (the Danish Earl who takes him prisoner) trains him up to kill and starts to view him as a son. Battles a plenty, Uhtred finds himself back on the English side. Lots of action and sword fights and blood.

Have ordered the second one in the series.

Eitak I'm very sorry to hear about your dad. I've been there recently; my husband and my dad died within a year of each other. Having something comforting to read definitely helped at the worst times.

Finished The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Some of the things she says are a bit bonkers but it's made me think differently about all the stuff that I have in the house. DH was a bit of a hoarder and I'm determined to tackle the over-flowing shed that is full of the 'might come in handy one day' clutter he accumulated over the years.

Also finished Mary Stewart's Airs Above the Ground. I enjoyed it very much and am more determined than ever to visit Vienna for myself. The horses and the Spanish Riding School bits just about made up for having to read stuff like: "It was not simply that as a man he wasn't prey to my kind of physical weakness and fear," and there was a rather unpleasant and, to my mind, gratuitous revenge taken against the villain at one point near the end.
There are some really exciting scenes and the descriptions of the Austrian countryside are very evocative. I also must admit to shedding a tear at the poignant ending.

I am lagging shamefully behind most of you on the number of books read. So far, my list of completed books is:

1. Antigone - Jean Anouilh
2. War and Peace - Tolstoy
3. The Good Fairies of New York - Martin Millar
4. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up - Marie Kondo
5. Airs Above the Ground - Mary Stewart

Next up are The Imperial Horse: The Saga of the Lipizzaners by Hans-Heinrich Isenbart and Emil M Bührer

and Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor. I've been meaning to read Elizabeth Taylor for years and feel bad that's it's taken me so long to get round to it.

Eitak and Natasha.

14. Dissolution by CJ Samson I found this a bit jolting to read, as I thought the fairly modern style of the narrative jarred with the Tudor speak- "Gods Wounds!", and the like. The story was okay, and after Wolf Hall it was quite jolly to be tudoring again, but for light historical I still don't think anyone beats Georgette Heyer.

Natasha - so sorry about your losses.

I'm afraid Middlemarch bores me to tears. I like Vanity Fair a lot though.

Natasha

Tanaqui, Remus and Cote, thank you all.

I've never actually managed to finish Middlemarch

1. Minnie's Room by Mollie Panter-Downes

These are a collection of short stories published originally in the The New Yorker in the couple of decades after the war and now republished by Persephone and mostly deal with exploring how the middle classes struggle to adapt to life after the war. I really enjoyed them (they were a good antidote to the Marlon James I have just finished) - beautifully written with gentle yet acute observation of human nature.

This thread is making me less patient with huge classics. My competitive urge kicks in and I just want to be racing through shorter stuff and posting it here. I am forcing myself to behave!

grey I liked the burning land. I was beginning to think the characters were getting a bit predictable. I am interested to see in the later books how uthred's relationship with his eldest son is going to pan out. I don't think it's going to end well.
pterobore did you like The Great Gatsby I was a bit disappointed with Gatsby I was hoping he was going to be much nicer than he actually was. I hated the self serving attitude of many of the characters.

I am still reading Margaret Lennox The lost Tudor Princess by Alison Weir. As always she has disappointed but it is a big book

That should read not disappointed

I know what you mean, TooExtra. So at the start of this year I challenged myself to read one doorstopper a month (my criteria being each book has to be at least 500 pages long).

17. The Janissary Tree - Jason Goodwin Mystery set in 1830s Istanbul. Recommended and reviewed up thread. Very enjoyable. My DM will love this.

18. In the Midst Of Life - Jennifer Worth Challenging book about death from the author of Call the Midwife. Very very interesting to read about death from the nursing point of view although it I found it difficult emotionally at times. She had very strong views on resuscitation and care of the elderly and difficult not to agree with her having just lost MIL to Alzheimer's.
    All the more poignant given that she received her own terminal diagnosis shortly after finishing this book and adresses this at the end.

33. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray. Satirical farce holding up an all too honest mirror to Victorian Society-with-a-capital-S. Becky is a scheming adventurer aiming for the best marriage possible; Amelia is the good woman beloved of Victorian literature. I like that Becky is the more sympathetic character. Her cleverness and ruthlessness are much applauded, and the likes of Dobbin don't hurt her in the end. I would have absolutely adored her 10 years ago, but her relationship to her son soured her slightly for me. She is very similar to Scarlett O'Hara, but much more honest with herself - and I did read Gone With The Wind as a teenager and wasn't particularly put off by Scarlett's attitude to her children. I did take a long time to read this because you retain a certain distance from the characters, so they don't grab you and make you read voraciously - Thackeray's too focused on satirising them for that. But it was so clever and amusing! I am very glad I read it.

Middlemarch and Vanity Fair are wonderful reads.

Just finished The Girl in the Red Coat (can't remember what number it would be). Odd book. Not sure what the point of it all was but I do think there was more point to it than the girl on the train/gone girl books.

Tomorrow I will finish Carrie by Stephen King (on audio in the car). God I am glad he is a writer.